Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Harry Potter, it all belongs to JK Rolling

A/N Hey everyone, sorry it's taken so long to update but here's chapter 4. You'll certainly notice a few AU changes in it. For one thing I changed Hermione's age a little. Her birthday's still September 19th but I made it so that she'll be turning 11 in her first year instead of 12. So now she's the youngest of the golden trio, which I think makes her brilliance and intelligence at a younger age that much more amazing. Plus she'll still be the brightest witch of their year, maybe even in the whole school. So it would only make sense that Dumbledore and McGonagall would let her start the first year at 10, especially since her 11th birthday is so close to the start of term. Anyway please enjoy.

Chapter 4: First week at Hogwarts

Harry woke up the next morning before any of the other boys in his dorm. He could still hear Ron snoring like a rocket engine. Harry got up so early because he was super excited for his first classes to start today. He loved learning very much and had read all his school books cover to cover multiple times since he'd got them. He was probably only second to Hermione when it came to their love of learning and reading. Harry got up and went to the bathroom to shower, brush his teeth and get ready for the day. After he finally got dressed in his school robes and grabbed his book-bag he headed downstairs to the common room. As he came down he looked around and saw that Hermione was already there. She was sitting on a sofa in front of the fireplace reading.

Harry smiled at the sight of his best friend in her element, seeing her so engrossed in a book with her eyebrows scrunched together in concentration and her biting her lower lip looked so natural, and he thought she looked even cuter than normal. He went up and sat next to her on the couch saying, " good morning Hermione". Hermione jumped and squeaked in surprise, and Harry had a hard time not bursting out laughing at her reaction. He managed somehow but couldn't keep the smirk off his face. Hermione glared at him and said, " you scared me, you prat"! Harry still wore his smirk but said, " I'm sorry that I scared you, but it's not my fault that you're particularly unobservant to everything around you when you're reading". Harry's smirk was contagious and Hermione smiled back at him and said," I know, when I read it's like I enter my own little world where everything outside of me and my book completely disappear". Her smile vanished and she got a sad look on her face and asked," does that make me weird or put people off"? Harry answered immediately," I think it's rather cute, and I also really admire how much you love to read. I love reading too and I wish I could block out the distractions around to be able to enjoy reading more. So don't worry what others think of you or your interests, your perfect just being you". Hermione blushed scarlet but smiled at Harry's praise. Harry was blushing slightly as well. Hermione said," thank you Harry, it's only our first morning here and you and I barely know each other yet, but you're already my best friend. So thank you for being my friend as well". Harry beamed at her and said" ditto, you're my best friend too Hermione. So want to head down to breakfast and get ready for our first classes"? Hermione beamed back at him nodded yes. The two stood and grabbed their book bags and went out through the portrait hole.

As they made their way down the stairs Harry hesitated for a minute before he reached out and took Hermione's left hand in his right. She blushed, surprised but pleased that Harry wanted to hold her hand and she smiled at him and interlaced her fingers with his. They continued downstairs in comfortable silence, continuing to hold hands until they entered the Great Hall where they say next to one another at the Gryffindor table. They each loaded up their plates with fried eggs, bacon, sausage, and toast and began enjoying their meal. Pretty soon they were joined by Ron and Neville, along with the rest of the other first year Gryffindor's. As they were all eating breakfast McGonagall came around and gave them each their course schedules. Harry and Hermione checked and saw that their first class was Transfiguration. They finished their breakfast, then gathered their things and headed to class, holding hands again on the way.

They arrived with plenty of time to spare before the start of class and were the first students there. They took seats next to each other at the front of the classroom and saw a grey Taby cat with black stripes sitting on the teacher's desk. They chose to ignore it for now and took out their Transfiguration books and began reading up while they waited for the rest of the class and Professor McGonagall to arrive. As they read they held hands underneath their table, they didn't notice the cat glance at their joined hands and smile.

The rest of the class soon arrived, all except for Ron and Seamus. The bell rang soon after and the two boys and the teacher still hadn't arrived. Five minutes after the bell Ron and Seamus finally rushed into class, both looking relieved to see that the teacher wasn't there yet. Ron said," thank goodness, can you imagine the look on McGonagall's face if we were late"? As they neared the front to take seats at the empty table next to Harry and Hermione the cat on McGonagall's desk leaped forward and transformed instantly into the Professor herself. Ron and Seamus gaped at her and Ron said," that was bloody brilliant"! Professor McGonagall simply said," thank you for that assessment Mr. Weasley. Perhaps I could transfigure either Mr. McFinnigan or yourself into a pocket watch. That way one of you might be on time". Ron stammered out," we got lost". McGonagall replied," then perhaps a map, I trust you don't need one to find your seats".

The boys took their seats at the open table next to Harry and Hermione, and Professor McGonagall started the class. After an introduction to the theory and practice of transfiguration McGonagall sat the class to their first lesson, turning a match into a needle. Hermione managed to fully transfigure her match into a perfect needle on her second attempt and Harry did so on his third. By the end of the lesson the two of them were the only ones to have successfully performed the spell and were awarded 20 points each for Gryffindor. McGonagall gave the rest of the class homework, which was to practice the spell, and excused Harry and Hermione from it because of their success. In Charms class they began learning the unlocking charm Alohamora! As well as it's counter, the locking charm. Once again by the end of class Harry and Hermione were the only ones to manage successfully using the spells, earning them both another 20 points each. Professor Flitwick did assign them some homework, just a brief description of the theory of the charms and an a few written examples of when they might be useful. The next class they had was potions after lunch and it was the first class where Harry and Hermione weren't rewarded for their knowledge and skills.

It quickly became apparent that Professor Snape absolutely loathed Harry, and by the end of the class Harry felt the same way about Snape. Even though Harry successfully answered all of Snape's questions correctly, thanks to how much he'd studied his course books before school started, Snape still sneered at him and talked down to him. Harry could easily ignore the way Snape treated him, but Harry was absolutely enraged by the way Snape treated Hermione. Despite the fact that Hermione always had her hand up quick as lighting, ready to answer any question, Snape ignored her until she finally blurted out the answer to a question and Snape told her to shut up and called her an insufferable know-it-all. Hermione was in tears for the rest of class and it made Harry very much want to hex the greasy haired git of a Professor that made her cry.

After class was over Hermione hurried out and ran off. Harry hurried her, they were done with classes for the day and had a couple of hours before dinner, and Harry managed to catch up just in time to see Hermione run out the castle's front entrance. He quickly ran out to catch up with her and finally managed to, finding her sitting under a tree next to the lake. Harry stopped to catch his breath before walking up and sitting down next to her. Hermione looked up at him, her face covered with tears. Harry put his arms around her and pulled her into a hug, she returned the hug fiercely and openly sobbed into his shoulder. Harry just held her and rubbed comforting circles on her back. After a few minutes she finally seemed to pull herself together and pulled back saying," I'm sorry Harry, I got your robe all wet, but thank you for coming after me and hugging me. I'm glad I have a friend like you". Harry said," you're welcome, I'm glad to have a friend like you as well. And you have nothing to apologize for, Snape's the one who should be apologizing. Just because you're brilliant, and probably smarter than he is, he had to try to hurt you like that". Hermione blushed at Harry's praise of her and hugged him again, this time it was a very happy hug.

They stayed out by the lake, simply enjoying each other's company. They began talking about their families and their home life. Harry ended up asking Hermione when her birthday was. She answered," it's the week after next, on September 19th, I'll be turning 11". Harry asked," you're not 11 already, I thought you had to be to start at Hogwarts"? She shook her head and said," normally yes, you have to be at least 11 to start school here. But since my birthday is so close to the start of the school year, and since I was able to pass the test Professor McGonagall gave me to be considered for early admittance, her and Professor Dumbledore made an exception and let me start this year". Harry wasn't surprised, with as bright as Hermione was that she started early. It showed just how truly brilliant she was given her younger age by nearly a year, that she was the top student in their year. Plus he was grateful that she had started this year along with him, he already couldn't imagine his life without her, his best friend. Harry wanted to figure out a wonderful birthday gift for Hermione, so he subtly began asking her about her favorite things and hobbies.

After another hour of talking it was time to head into dinner. They made their way into the Great Hall and took seats next to each other across from Ron and Neville. They loaded up their plates and began hungrily devouring their food, their talk and everything had made them particularly hungry. Neville asked Hermione if she was ok after what Snape had said. She told him," I'm a lot better now, but thank you for asking. Harry comforted me and helped me feel much better". She sent a bright smile at Harry and he smiled back, Ron seemed to ignore everything and asked Harry if he wanted to play some wizards chess after dinner. Harry agreed, although he to just wanted to spend more time alone with Hermione.

Ron ended up beating Harry 15 games in a row, but after they took a short break, where Hermione whispered some tips in his ear, Harry barely managed to beat Ron at last. Ron was surprised, but he accepted the loss with grace and congratulated Harry on the win. A short time later they all headed to bed and Harry snuggled into his bedding feeling very content. As he drifted off to sleep his last thoughts were of Hermione. The next day at breakfast Harry was surprised to see Hedwig among the other owls that brought in the morning post. She dropped a letter on his plate and ate some of his bacon. Harry opened the letter excited, it read, " 'ello 'arry, I was wondering if you'd like you to come by my hut for tea Friday afternoon and tell me about yer first week". Harry quickly wrote out an letter saying he'd love to have tea with Hagrid and then sent it with Hedwig. He looked at Hermione and asked, " would you like to come with me to Hagrid's for tea Friday afternoon"? She said she would and Harry smiled at her.

After breakfast they had their first Herbology class with Professor Sprout, who was a squat, heavyset witch with a small, worn, old hat perched atop her grey flyaway hair. Harry found the lesson about devil's snare fairly interesting. And if course Hermione earned another 20 points for Gryffindor, answering many of Professor Sprout's questions flawlessly. But even with Hermione's brilliant mind, by far the best student in class was Neville, who not only answered every question asked of him perfectly, as well as adding in additional info from his own knowledge, but he also expertly handled tending to the devil's snare plant he was working with, earning him a whopping 50 points for Gryffindor. The next class after that was History of Magic, easily the most boring class in the school. It was the only class taught by a ghost, Professor Binns, who was very old when he passed. One day years ago, after sleeping in a chair in the teacher's lounge, he got up to go teach his class, leaving his body behind.

The rest of the week passed by pretty quickly after Harry and the other first years got used to the routine of their classes. Hermione had quickly become the top student in they year in every class except for Defense Against the Dark Arts, where Harry held the top spot. He seemed to have a natural skill when it came to Defense, although Professor Quirrel wasn't a great teacher, Harry still learned a lot from his school books, as well from a couple books on Defense that Lupin had set him. Harry also did very well in Charms and Transfiguration, coming in second place only to Hermione, and in Herbology he was third behind Hermione and Neville. They were given a good deal of homework, which Harry and Hermione spent a lot of time tackling it in the library. The two of them made a perfect team, helping and supporting each other with everything. Finally on Friday after lunch they were finished with their classes for the week and the two of them headed down to Hagrid's hut. Harry knocked on the door and they heard a dog barking and then the voice of Hagrid yelling," back Fang, back"! The door opened and Hagrid looked down at them smiling, his warm black eyes crinkling. " 'ello 'arry, 'ermione, come in". They went inside and took seats at the large table in one corner of the hut.

Harry looked around the place, there was a number of hams and dead pheasants hanging from the ceiling. There was a cozy fireplace, and a very large bed at the back of the house. Hagrid went over to the fire, taking the kettle off the pole over it and he poured them all some tea and put out some cream and sugar, along with a plate of rock cakes. Fang the boarhound came over to Harry and began drooling on his robes, like Hagrid Fang was clearly gentler and friendlier than he appeared. As they began drinking their tea Hagrid took a seat at the table and asked, " so how was yer firs' week, enjoying all yer classes"? Harry replied," yeah, it's been fun learning everything, even with all the homework. And of course Hermione's quickly taken the top spot in every class". Hermione blushed at Harry's praising her once again, and she gave him a big smile. She said," don't sell yourself short Harry, you've done very well too, and you've earned almost as many house points as I have, plus you're top in Defense". Harry blushed himself at her compliments.

Hagrid listened to the exchange between the two and smiled at the looks they gave each other while blushing. He didn't give it more than a year before Harry and Hermione became a couple and smiled even wider thinking how Harry had managed to find a girl so much like his mother. Hermione then began giving Hagrid a detailed recalling of their first week. As she did Harry noticed a copy of The Daily Prophet newspaper on the table. He pulled it over and read the front page headline and story.

Break-in at Gringotts Bank!

It has been reported that a break-in happened at Gringotts Bank on July 31st. Believed to be perpetrated by dark witches or wizards unknown. The goblins of Gringotts still don't know how the potential thief managed to get into the vault in question, but thankfully said vault has in fact been emptied earlier that same day. When questioned on it further the Gringotts spokes-goblin refused to comment further and told this reporter to sod off!

Harry finished reading and said," Hagrid, this says that the bank was broken into on my birthday. That's the same day we were there, what if it was happening at the same time"? Harry noticed that Hagrid avoided looking at him and shrugged it off. Harry's intuition clicked, Hagrid knew something. Harry thought about and realized that Hagrid had emptied the vault where he got the small package for Dumbledore, if you could call it emptying since the package was the only thing in there. They continued talking about school and Harry said how he thought that Snape personally hated him to which Hagrid replied," nonsense, why would he"? But Harry could tell that Hagrid was holding back once again. They finished their visit with Hagrid, walking out with their pockets full of rock cakes they had been too polite to refuse. They made their way to the castle for dinner, their hands locked together as they entered the Great Hall. Later that evening Harry had snuck off to the owlery to send off an order form with Hedwig for Hermione's birthday present. After he returned to the Gryffindor common room he said good night to Hermione and made his way upstairs to his dorm. After changing into his pajamas and settling into bed, he lay there thinking about the first week of school and how much he enjoyed his classes. He also thought a little about his visit to Hagrid's and what he had learned there. But mostly he thought about Hermione and how thankful he was to have such an incredible friend, and he realized he was really starting to like her, like, like her, and he smiled at the realization, sure that she felt the same way. As he drifted off to a comfortable sleep, once again his last thoughts were of Hermione.